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"I will remain in this seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, adding that if the conversation was successful, he might invite us into Downing Street for another conversation in 2026.

There is rarely ever downtime for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was much longer than typical, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year starts, Starmer seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are set to get better?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that many of his fellow MPs believe he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and remove him this year.

But Sir Keir was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "assessed at the poll", insisting no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

"This is the battle of our generation and I aim to lead us," he said.

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, even if one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably anxious for things to change. He aimed to assure me, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government put in place during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His big point is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite facing demands from within his own party for a bolder approach, with much more political direction, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, should he consider a different script?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting evident political perils as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "just lack the complete details at the moment".

Some called for him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been simmering tension in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably elicit howls that he is breaking his promise never to try to reverse the results that followed Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy some on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to